Chelsea Rhodenhiser

For the Website Evaluation Project, I chose to assess The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies (or ORB), available at http://orb.rhodes.edu/. I utilized information available about currency, authority, content, and accuracy to analyze ORB.

ORB was last updated on July 10, 2002. The date of access is roughly two months following the last update, so the content available on the site is fairly current. Next, I evaluated the authority of the authors. The home page of ORB clearly states its purpose and the authority of its authors by declaring, “ORB is an academic site, written and maintained by medieval scholars for the benefit of their fellow instructors and serious students. All articles have been judged by at least two peer reviewers. Authors are held to high standards of accuracy, currency, and relevance to the field of medieval studies.” To further evaluate the validity of the claim, the “About” link offers credentials on the authors, as well as contact information. Although it is published through an educational institution (as evidence by .edu on the URL), the site accommodates content submitted by various authors, who may or may not be affiliated with an educational institution. However, ORB does offer credentials on each of its authors, and apparently most of the authors are professors at a university. ORB also provides credentials for an editor, Carolyn Schriber, and a technical director, Laura Blanchard.

One section of ORB is the “ORB Encyclopedia.” Although this section is mainly composed of links to other pages, the links have been thoughtfully assembled using a chronological index. The chronology is then divided into a topical index, where each linked page contains content on a specific aspect of medieval history and life. Some of the linked pages contain small images, diagrams, time lines, and outlines, while all contain text on the specified subject. This section supplies the majority of the original and documented content of ORB. Most of the links reference material published within the ORB site, while ten of the links reference sites outside of the ORB site. Three of the links in the “ORB Encyclopedia” are not current. Overall, the material in this section of ORB is logically organized and the authorship is well documented. This section would be a great place to look for a specific topic surrounding medieval studies, or even to find some relevant images or diagrams.

Another section of ORB is the “ORB Textbook Library.” This section contains links to thirteen online textbooks. All of the links are current, and they are organized alphabetically. Students could find this page useful in locating textbooks containing information on a specific aspect of the medieval time period. While ORB contains six more sections, the “ORB Encyclopedia” and “ORB Textbook Library” are the two sections I believe would be most beneficial to a student seeking resources for a paper or project.

An editor reviews the information presented in ORB, and the content appears to be grammatically correct and reliable. Also, the credentials of the authors seem impressive and the layout of the site appears well thought-out. Overall, I believe this site will be useful throughout the year in order to access a multitude of information pertaining to the medieval time period.